Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Currently, the United States grants citizenship automatically to every
person born on our soil—including children of legal noncitizens,
tourists, and even illegal immigrants. (Children of foreign diplomats
are the exception.) The U.S. has so-called birthright citizenship
because the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, says
citizenship must be granted to “all persons born or naturalized in the
United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” I argue that
“subject to the jurisdiction thereof” does not include illegal
immigrants, and I’m not alone. One of the Amendment’s authors, Senator
Jacob Howard of Michigan, said it “will not, of course, include persons
born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens…” Aside from any
constitutional arguments, I believe giving citizenship based merely on
where you are born is bad public policy. Citizenship is about more than
that; it is about our proud history, common standards, and willingness
to uphold these ideals. What message does granting citizenship to the
children of illegal immigrants send to people waiting to get into the
U.S. legally? Foreigners who want to become citizens can wait as long as
18 years. Once someone crosses our borders illegally and gives birth to
a child, their entire family is able to cut in line, degrading the
legitimacy of our immigration system. Almost no other country in the
world offers birthright citizenship for these reasons. Lawbreakers
should not be rewarded through the destructive policy of birthright
citizenship. Yep, deport any of the anchor babies.